You're Not the Only One
by It'sSmallerOnTheOutside
Summary: Sam has completed the first of the three trials to shut the gates of Hell. Whilst they work a case in Illinois, the Winchester brother's try to figure out what the next trial is and how they will complete it.
1. So Get This'

"So get this," started Sam, he showed Dean the article he saw in the local newspaper, "This girl froze to death, in the middle of an ice arena. The ice apparently melted and then froze again in less than a minute…." Dean looked up at him then looked down at his pie.

"Where?" Dean asked.

"Addison, Illinois."

"Really? Illinois? Again? We were just there." Groaned Dean.

"Come on Dean, let's go." Dean looked down at his pie and looked back up at Sam.

"Once I've finished this." Sam rolled his eyes.

Dean gripped the steering wheel tightly, focusing on the road. He knew that Sam wold start asking about Cas. Cas had run off with the angel tablet and hadn't been seen since he almost killed Dean. He glanced quickly over to Sam who was focussed intensely on the news article, no doubt trying to think of a way he could talk about Cas without Dean going off at him. Sam glanced up at Dean, and then shook his head as he read the article again. "You know we have to talk about it, Dean" Sam said. Dean kept his focus on the road, gripping the steering wheel tightly and didn't reply.

Two hours later they arrived in Addison, Illinois. Dean got out of the impala and walked straight into the motel without saying anything to Sam. Sam knew that Dean was upset about what Cas did and he was worried that Dean would do something stupid. After Dean had booked the room they went in. The room was average sized with two tiny beds that would be way too small to fit Dean, not to mention Sam. "You don't even want to know where he is?" Sam asked Dean.

"Who would that be?"

"Damn it Dean! You're obviously pissed at him! He could be in trouble, maybe Crowley has gotten to him" Sam said impatiently. Dean glared at him, grabbed his jacket and started to walk out the door. "Where are you going now?" Sam asked.

"The bar" Dean said.

Dean stared at the bubbles that slowly rose to the top of his beer. Someone sat next to him quietly, he glanced up and saw a short girl with deep brown hair smile up at him. He smiled half-heartedly back at her. "Rough day?" she asked sympathetically.

"You could say that" he replied and turned back to his beer and contemplating.

"You know that when you sit alone at a bar, random people will ask you what is wrong, right? And by convention you must tell them" The girl insisted. Dean looked at her curiously.

"You don't want to know my life story, trust me…" he replied.

"Fine, we'll start with something simple, what's your name?" She asked him. Dean considered telling her a fake name like he has done so many times before but he decided that he'd tell her the truth.

"Dean" he said. She smiled at him

"Dean…. What?" she asked cheekily. He sighed, he could tell she was going to keep on bugging him if he didn't tell her. The only reason why he was humouring her was because he thought that she was cute.

"Winchester" he said. She repeated it slowly smiling at him.

"I'm Emily" She introduced herself.

"Well, Emily, I'm not exactly in a caring and sharing mood so…" Emily looked down sadly, then looked up and smirked.

"Come on, I want a D&M with a stranger!" she insisted. Dean gulped his beer, he didn't want to talk to this girl about how almost everyone he has ever cared about has died, nor did he want to talk about Cas and even if he did, she would think he was insane.

"Look, you seem nice and all but you really don't want to know my problems." Dean said sadly. He got up and walked away. Emily started jogging to keep up with Deans long strides.

"I know you want to!" Emily piped. Dean stopped, turned around and looked her right in the eye. "Almost everyone I've ever cared about has died, my brother can't have the life he wants, he's been through so much shit and now he has to complete these stupid ass trials that will probably kill him and Cas ran off with the freaking angel tablet cause he doesn't trust me enough" Dean yelled. Emily looked at him with wide eyes.

"Trials? Angel Tablet? What the hell is that?" she asked. Dean looked at her knowing he'd said too much.

"Nothing" he muttered and walked out of the bar quickly. Emily stood in the centre of the room with a shocked look on her face.


	2. I Don't Know

Dean arrived back at the motel later that evening. Sam was sitting at the little wobbly table researching on his laptop about the ice skating case. Dean threw his jacket on the back of a chair and then grabbed two beers from the old fridge in the corner of the room. He placed a beer with a thump in front of Sam, who looked up at him. "Do we know what killed the girl yet?" Dean asked. Sam furrowed his eyebrows together and looked at the computer screen intently.

"Uhh… it could be a ghost or maybe an angel thing…." He trailed off.

"Nah, it's not an angel thing, not their style" Dean commented. He took a swig from his beer. "We should talk to the vics family tomorrow." Sam nodded and went back to staring at his computer screen.

_Cas lay limp on cool steel table. His trench coat and shirt abandoned in the corner to reveal is battered and bloodied body. Crowley circled the table with a smug grin, admiring the knife in his hands as fresh blood dribbled down the hilt. _Dean woke up with a start. Sam looked at him with concern, "You alright?" he asked. Dean glanced over at him.

"Yeah," he replied gruffly. "Why do you keep on asking?" Sam handed Dean a coffee and started to discuss the case again.

"So, we should go talk to the girl's family, see if they noticed anything strange before her death." Sam suggested. Dean shrugged on his jacket and grabbed the keys for the impala and walked out the door. Sam frowned slightly and followed Dean to the car.

They pulled up at an average sized house with a gravel pathway that led up to some rickety steps. Sam knocked on the front door firmly. A short, young girl about 7 years old with long blonde hair opened the door. Her eyes grew wide as she took in Sam and Dean's appearance and took a step backwards. "Hi, is you're mother home?" Sam asked her kindly. She nodded and quickly ran off down the corridor. Dean looked at Sam quizzically and leaned through the doorframe and looked around. He raised his eyebrows slightly at Sam and shrugged. Right before Dean was about to walk inside a middle-aged woman with shoulder length blonde hair came to the door. "Can I help you?" she asked.

"Uhh, yeah, you're Mrs Grayson?" Dean asked. She nodded. " I'm Detective Simmons and this is Detective Frehley," they flashed her their badges. "We'd like to ask you a few questions about your daughter's death." She let them inside. Mrs Grayson made tea for them and poured it into a pair of delicate teacups.

"So, Mrs Grayson-" Sam started

"Please, call me Sophie" she said, giving a slightly flirtatious smile to Sam who looked down uncomfortably. Dean smirked to himself at Sam's discomfort.

"Uhh, Sophie…" Sam began again. "Did you notice anything unusual or weird the days leading up to Jasmine's death?"

"Unusual? Unusual how?" she asked suspiciously.

"Like was she acting strange? Did you notice any flickering lights, scratching sounds?" Dean offered. Sophie knitted her eyebrows together looking confused as Sam swiftly kicked Dean under the table for being so obvious.

"Umm…..Jasmine was acting normal before she…" Sophie trailed off.

"Was there anybody that would want to hurt Jasmine?" Sam asked.

"It was an accident… Something went wrong with the ice…." Sophie said quietly. Sam and Dean exchanged a glance.

"We just have to cover every possible scenario." Sam assured her.

"How much time did Jasmine spend at the ice arena?" Dean asked. Sophie gave him a quizzical, concerned look.

"She would spend at least an hour after school every day and most of her weekends there." She told them.

"Alright, I think that's all we need. Thankyou for your time… Sophie." Sam thanked her and they left.

Dean's phone started ringing; he picked it up and saw that Kevin was calling. He immediately answered it, hoping that it was about the trials.

"Kevin?"

"Dean, I know the second trial…" Kevin said. There was a brief moment of silence.

"Well….?" Dean asked impatiently.

"An innocent soul has to be rescued from Hell and delivered unto Heaven." Kevin told him.

"What?"

"'Unto.' That's – that's how God talks." Kevin said.

"Thanks Kevin" Dean said and hung up. Sam walked in and raised an eyebrow at Dean. "Kevin knows the second trial."

"Which is?" Sam asked. Dean looked at him meaningfully.

"You have to rescue an innocent soul from Hell and pass it onto Heaven."

"I have to what?"

"Rescue a soul" Dean repeated.

"How am I meant to do that?!"

"I don't know." Dean said sadly.


	3. Parks and Books

Early the next morning Dean woke up and couldn't fall back asleep so he went for a walk. He slowly dawdled down a narrow dirt pathway which lead to a small but pretty park. He kicked a stone as he made his way up to a shallow pond. He saw himself in the reflection of the pond and kicked the stone hard into it, causing ripples to spread over its surface. The park was mostly empty except for a familiar looking girl sitting on the other side of the pond. Dean narrowed his eyes, trying to see the girl better. She looked up and smiled widely. It was Emily. She stood up and made her way over to him. Sunlight filtered through the canopy of trees onto her face.

"Dean" she smiled. "What a surprise to see you here!" Dean narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her. She looked at him quizzically.

"It's a park… I'm going for a walk; a lot of people do that, Dean." She told him. He looked down awkwardly.

"Yeah, I guess they do."

"So… Last time I talked to you, you mentioned Trials…" She said expectantly. Deans face went serious as he studied her eyes. When he didn't say anything she sighed. "You're not going to tell me are you?"

"Nope" Emily looked disappointed. However, she smiled playfully.

"What if I told you one of my secrets?" she stage whispered.

"No" Dean started to walk away.

"Okay, sorry. Sorry!" she apologised, jogging to keep up with his long strides. "You want to be mysterious, that's fine." He looked at her intensely. "So, do you have any brothers or sisters?" she asked him.

"I have a brother." He replied a little coldly. He immediately felt bad because she looked upset by his tone. "Uhmm, his name's Sam." He said a little kinder. Emily's face perked up.

"Is he older or younger?"

"Younger." Emily's smile took up half of her face and Dean couldn't help but give a small smile in return.

Sam woke up about half an hour after Dean left. He reached for Dean's bed to wake him up but discovered that he was not there. He shot up and looked around the room. When he found that Dean was no longer there he instantly rang him, assuming the worst. He had to ring Dean three times before he answered.

"Dean?!"

"What?!"

"Where the hell are you?!"

"I went for a walk."

"And you didn't think to tell me, leave a note, anything?!"

"Dude, chill."

"You could've been abducted…. Or worse."

"Well I'm fine, I'll be back soon." Dean hung up on him. Sam stared at his phone and sighed. He was fed up with Dean's constant mood swings and sudden disappearances and decided to make good use of the time alone. He walked over to the little coffee shop across the road from the motel. He debated whether to get one for Dean but decided not to as he was unsure when he would get back from his little expedition. Sam made his way back to the motel to find that Dean was still not back. He sighed and took a sip from his coffee. Sam looked at his watch and frowned. Knowing that Dean would most likely take a long time to get back he headed off to the local library, sending a text to Dean to let him know where he went. The library looked small from the outside but when he walked in he was consumed by a world of bookshelves. He walked around the tables to the reception and asked the plump woman at the desk where he could get documents on the local history. She smiled warmly at him and let him into the back room where there were files and files on the seemingly small town. He grabbed the box labelled 'murders and crimes' as well as the one labelled 'local legends' and made his way back to the main room of the library. He placed the boxes down with a thump and plonked himself down in the chair. He started searching through the files in the 'local legends' box. There weren't too many documents in the box he discovered as he flipped through each of them but couldn't find anything about ice or even water. He looked up when he heard a crash and several thumps down one of the book aisles. He got up and peeked around the corner of the book shelf. A young girl with caramel blonde hair was gathering books up off the floor.

"Hey, do you need any help?" Sam asked her. She looked up and blushed deeply.

"Umm, no, I'm alright, thanks though." She said quietly, looking embarrassed. Sam walked over to her and knelt down to help anyway. As he put the last book back, she looked up and he caught her eyes. She smiled.

"Thanks" she said appreciatively "I'm Claudia" she said.

"Sam" he smiled. He got up again and went back to all the documents, stealing a last glance at Claudia.

Sam and Dean met back at the motel by midday.

"Did you find anything interesting at the library?" Dean asked. Sam made an awkward face which Dean narrowed his eyes at slightly.

"Uhh…., yeah, actually," Sam began. "About eighty years ago a man named Henry Kostroff drowned his daughter in a lake which then froze over the weeks after he killed her. And get this… they filled in the lake last year and built the ice arena there."

"So, you're thinking that building on the land pissed off the spirit?" Dean asked.

"Exactly" Sam confirmed. Dean grabbed the car keys and they took off in the impala.


	4. Subtelty

"Dean, where are you going?" Sam asked as Dean drove past the turn off for the ice arena.

"I think we need to talk to some of Jasmines friends who were there when she died."

"The rink was basically empty though."

"But not completely" Dean said defiantly. They went to one of Jasmine's friends' houses. The house was cream bricked with a neat garden and a fountain. They strode up the steps and Dean knocked on the door. A girl with strawberry blonde hair answered the door. She looked them up and down and smiled flirtatiously.

"Bridgette Whitman?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, and you are…?" She asked.

"Detective Simmons and Frehley" they flashed their badges, using the aliases from before.

"We'd like to ask you a few questions about your friend, Jasmine's death." Bridgette looked down sadly and opened the door for Sam and Dean to walk through. She lead them to the living room where there were two other girls, one had sun tanned skin and an angular face and another had caramel blonde hair. The girl with caramel blonde hair turned around and recognised Sam instantly. Sam's eyes widened slightly.

"This is Claudia" Bridgette gestured to Claudia, "and this is Chelsea." She gestured to the other girl.

"Detective Simmons and Frehley" Dean declared and once again they presented their badges. Claudia looked shocked by the new founded fact that Sam was a 'FBI Agent'. Sam caught her eye and gave her a slight smile, which she returned awkwardly.

"We're here to ask you a few questions about Jasmine," Dean started. Chelsea and Claudia nodded slowly. " So, in the days leading up to her death, did you notice anything weird or unusual? Was she acting strange?" They all exchanged looks. Claudia looked at her feet, trying to avoid Sam's eyes.

"Actually, yeah, she was running around with this guy…" Chelsea told them. Dean gave her a 'so what' face.

"She's not like that though; she never did anything like that." Bridgette added. " And none of us ever met him." She looked at Chelsea and Claudia to confirm.

"D'you have a name?" Dean asked.

"uhh…" Chelsea looked at Claudia.

"Harry… or…uhmm" Claudia hesitated.

"Henry?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, that was it! I think he was quite a bit older too…" Bridgette confirmed. Claudia's eyes flickered to Sam before returning back to her hands.

"Did any of you see her die?" Dean asked. They all shook their heads.

"We were all in the back room" Chelsea told them.

"Alright, that's all. Thanks" Dean smiled and turned to walk out the door. Sam nodded a goodbye subtly to Claudia before following Dean.

"Wanna check out the ice rink?" Dean asked. Sam looked up into Dean's eyes, seeing the weakly concealed hurt from Cas' disappearance. He decided not to bring it up; Dean was touchy about it and probably wouldn't talk to him for the rest of the day.

"Yeah, sure." Sam replied. Dean studied his eyes for a few seconds before hitting the accelerator. Once they arrived at the ice rink, Dean picked the lock on the front door and let them inside. They walked up to the large floor of ice and saw where they had hacked up the ice to get Jasmine out.

"Should we…" Sam gestured to the ice. Dean shook his head.

"Nah, I can see fine from here." They walked around the outside the rink. Dean ran his hand over the railings as he scanned the place for any signs of EMF, Sam looked at him expectantly and Dean nodded.

"Definitely a ghost"

"Henry Kostroff?" Sam asked

"Yeah, I think."

"So this guy is luring girls to the ice and killing them?" Sam asked.

"Yep" Dean said. "Let's burn some bones"

"Uhh, yeah… unmarked grave…" Sam pointed out.

"Of course…"

When they arrived back at the hotel, Dean chucked his jacket on the end of the bed. Sam grabbed two cold beers from the fridge, water dripping down his wrists as he handed one to Dean.

"Dea-" Sam was interrupted by two sharp knocks on the door. They exchanged a glance; Sam walked over to the door and opened it slowly.


	5. Rogue Reapers?

"Umm… hello?" Sam asked sturdily. He looked down at the petite girl, who only came up to his chest. Dean peaked around Sam's tall body.

"Emily" she smiled. Dean looked shocked to see her, he got up as quietly as he could to walk into another room without her noticing that he was there.

"Do you need something…?" Sam asked her doubtfully. She smirked.

"Yeah, have either you or Dean seen a guy about yea high," she raised her hand above her head, gesturing the height. "blue eyes, dark hair, uhh, a little strange…?" Sam knitted his eyebrows together, wondering how she knew Dean.

"I don't think so…" immediately thinking of Cas but disregarding it as he knew she wouldn't know him. He looked over his shoulder to ask Dean but realised that he was no longer sitting there. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously before looking back to Emily. "Just a second" he said. Sam walked into the other room to find Dean pinching the bridge of his nose. "Uhh… She's asking for you…" Dean got up and walked over to her.

"What are you doing here?" he asked sternly. She looked up at him with a hurt look on her face.

"I… Have you seen a guy about this tall," she gestured the height with her hand, "blue eyes and dark hair?" she asked him softly. Cas' face flashed in Deans mind. He breathed in deeply.

"No." he said. Emily sighed disappointedly.

"Okay, thanks…" she said and slowly turned to walk away. Dean closed the door hard.

"What was _that _about?" Sam asked. Dean looked at Sam with an unamused face. He drew his eyebrows together in thought.

"You don't think she meant Cas, do you?" Dean asked. Sam's eyes flashed with surprise at Dean bringing up Cas.

"I don't think so, it's not exactly _likely _that she'd know him." Sam said. Dean looked uncertain, there was something about Emily that made him think that she knew more than she was letting on.

Deans phone rang loudly on the wobbly table.

"Hello?" Dean asked into the phone.

"Detective Simmons?" A female voice asked.

"Yeah,"

"This is Sherriff Daywood, there's been another death at the ice rink." She told him.

"What? I thought that it was shut for the investigation."

"Yeah, it was. The victim snuck in to the rink. Her friends say she said she was meeting with some guy named Henry."

"What was her name?" Dean asked.

"Bridgette Whitman."

"We're on our way."

Once they arrived there were several officers outside already, they made their way into the rink and saw Bridgette's body being removed from the ice. Sherriff Daywood walked up to them stone faced.

"Has the family been informed?" Sam asked her.

"Yeah," She told them. Two other officers came up to her and she left with them.

"Dean, we gotta do something."

"I know, I think that Henry is going after Jasmine's friends… one of us needs to protect Chelsea and Claudia." Dean pointed out. Sam's eyes fluttered down.

"Uhh, I guess, I can do that…" Sam offered.

"You make it sound like such a chore." Dean stated.

"Uhm, I…" Sam stammered. Dean smirked to himself at his little brother's awkwardness.

Dean pulled in the motel car park and they both got out of the impala. Sam strode up to the door and opened it swiftly. He stopped abruptly in the entrance way.

"Uhh…"

"What?" Dean asked. Sam looked back at him. Dean gave him a 'well?' look. He pushed past Sam and walked inside.

"Hello Dean" Cas' deep voice boomed. Dean stopped mid step and just stared at him.

"Hello?" Dean asked sternly, "That's all you have to say to me?" Cas looked down.

"I'm sorry, Dean. There are just more important things right now."

"Right, well thanks for stopping by." Dean said sarcastically and gestured for him to leave. Cas gave an apologetic look to Dean and then vanished into the air. Dean walked over to the table, sat down and rested his head in his hands. Sam stood awkwardly between Dean and the door. Dean looked over to Sam.

"I think we need to summon a demon at a crossroads to find a way to save the soul." Dean said. Sam nodded, knowing that Dean was upset by Cas' reappearance he decided to go with his plan and not put up to much of a fight. He knew that they had to burn Henrys remains but he was certain that Dean needed to do this to get his mind off Cas.

That night, they arrived at a crossroads and painted a huge demons trap in the centre of it. Dean buried the box and summoned the demon. The demon looked less than thrilled to see that it was the Winchesters calling. However, he was unable to smoke out on accord of the demons trap. He wouldn't tell them how to get to hell as he knew that he would be killed for helping even one Winchester, not to mention two. They took the Demon to an empty building and tied him down and begun torturing him for information.

"Please…All right, look… For a price, y'all can be smuggled across Hell's border." The demon informed them.

"By who?" Dean asked. The demon hesitated and Dean stroked the edge of the blade thoughtfully.

"Rogue reapers. They got secret ways, in and out. Not just Hell – The Veil, Heaven."

"Rogue reapers smuggling people?" Sam questioned.

"People, souls…" The demon said.

"So what? They're like Hell coyotes?" Sam asked.


End file.
